211 
CHAPTER X. 
Passerine Order continued. — Conirostres. — Conical Beaks. — 
Orioles. — Starlings. — Habits of. — Finch Tribe. — Goldfinch. — 
Anecdotes of. — Nests rapidly completed. — Curious Nests in 
Africa. — Age of small Birds. — Canary Birds. — Trade in. — 
Bullfinches, Piping.' — How trained. — Boldness of. — Affection- 
ate and social Habits of. — Also of Linnets. — Use of small Birds 
in destroying Insects. 
Table X. Order 2. Passekxne. 
HTHERE are seven genera of this tribe, of which four are 
foreign; it is the most numerous, perhaps, of all the 
divisions, including, as it does, that host of hard-billed birds, 
of infinite variety, from the Starling down to the Sparrow, 
which is scattered so widely over the face of the globe. To 
pretend to enumerate them in a work of this kind would be 
impossible, and we shall therefore confine ourselves to a few 
anecdotes, illustrating the habits of some of those species 
which are most familiarly known. We have placed the 
Starling at the head of them, as being one of the connecting 
links between the Grackles and Thrush genera of the pre- 
ceding table, and those of the present. There is one other 
bird, the Golden Oriole, indeed, which is a more closely con- 
necting link, and might, without impropriety, be placed among 
the conirostral birds, inasmuch as the point of its upper 
mandible is slightly notched : but we mention the Starling 
as the best known, the Oriole, or Golden Thrush, being a 
bird of great rarity in this country, though, when once seen, 
it cannot fail of being recognised and remembered, the whole 
plumage, with the exception of the wings and tail, being of 
a bright orange or golden colour. 
The Starling, although closely resembling the Thrush and 
Blackbird in some respects, differs from them essentially in 
others ; and as its beak, on examination, will be found to be 
p 2 
